Whether you have acres of beautiful green lawn or you’re just trying to tame the patch of grass in front of your house, if you want to get the job done, you need to have the right tools. In this lawn care tools list we’ll cover the basics that even apartment dwellers might want to invest in all the way up to specialty tools needed for lawn remodels.
What are the best lawn care tools for you? That depends on what you want for your lawn. Read on to find out more about tools that can help you achieve your landscaping vision.
Basic Landscaping Tools
You’re keeping it simple. You’re stopping your weeds from taking over, cleaning up the leaves in the fall and keeping your grass where it needs to be. Here’s what you need to tend to your patch of earth. The best part? It all can fit in one corner on your back porch. No garage necessary.
Lawn-and-Leaf Rake: Many homeowners are intimately acquainted with this autumnal landscaping staple. Used for collecting lightweight material such as grass clippings and leaves, choosing the right lawn rake might depend on the material they’re made from. Those made from bamboo are usually the lightest and easiest to use, however, they only last a few seasons. Steel rakes and modern plastics are more durable.
Trowel: One of the best lawn care tools to have on hand for quick, casual landscaping projects, even apartment dwellers should own a trowel. This hand tool, with a pointed, scoop-shaped metal blade and a handle, is used for breaking up the earth, digging small holes, mixing in fertilizer or other additives, and transferring plants to pots.
Weeder: Dandelions beware! This classic garden tool has a forked steelhead on a short, hardwood handle that pries weeds from turf.
Turf Edger (Lawn Edger or Stick Edger): A half-moon-shaped steel cutting head, mounted to a hardwood handle, used to keep lawn edges neat. You can use an edger to cleanly separate a lawn from a walkway or other paved surfaces, such as a concrete sidewalk or asphalt path.
Edgers offer a more finished appearance than can be achieved by merely mowing over the border of the lawn and walkway, which frequently permits tufts of low-growing grass to hang over onto the walkway, resulting in an irregular or ragged appearance. You can also use an edger to trim away excess sod when laying the sod along irregular lawn edges.
Manual Essential Lawn Care Tools for Grass Care
If you want your grass to be greener than the stuff on the other side, you’ll need a few items from this lawn care tools list. We won’t get too in-depth here. These are the tools you’ll want on hand for prepping your lawn in the spring, reseeding and spreading fertilizer.
Manual Aerator: Lawn aeration relieves soil compaction, allowing grass better access to water and fertilizer. If you have a small lawn and some time on your hands, the foot-powered and easy-to-use manual aerator is a fine choice.
Sprayer: Sprayers are used for dispensing insecticidal soap or oil solutions. They are typically available in canister or backpack styles with 2 to 4-gallon polyethylene tanks and interchangeable nozzles for varying application patterns and rates.
Spreaders: Precision is the main difference between the two types of spreaders, drop and rotary spreaders. A drop spreader distributes seed, fertilizer, and other amendments, such as lime, in swaths the width of the spreader. Settings allow you to control the amount distributed.
A rotary spreader flings seed or amendments over a wide area, thereby covering ground faster than drop spreaders. However, it is not well suited for use on windy days or with small, irregularly shaped lawns.
Thatching Rake: Designed to remove thatch from your lawn without damaging the turf by using a gentle back and forth motion. The angle of the rake head adjusts to control the depth of the tine penetration.
Gardening and Landscaping Tools
Gardening and landscaping require different tools than yard work tools. If you’re planning on putting in a garden or adding landscaping plants, here are some starter tools to consider.
Shovels: For one of the most basic landscaping tools, there’s a lot of variety when it comes to shovels. Round-point shovels are for moving large quantities of fine-textured material, such as sand, soil, or non-fibrous mulches, from one place to another. Long-handled shovels should be selected by weight — the lighter the shovel, the easier it is to dig. D-handled shovels are suited for digging in trenches.
Spades: Veteran landscapers know to call a spade a spade, not a shovel. Know how to tell the difference? Spades have flat or gently curved blades and are for planting or transplanting, edging, and turf removal.
Landscape Rake: If you’re looking to smooth a large area of loose gravel or dirt, the landscape rake is a great choice. A 36-inch aluminum head mounted on an aluminum or wood shaft, this tool works using a push-pull action.
Grape (grubbing) Hoe: When you want to move a lot of earth and hack through hard ground, the wide, heavy-blade of a grape hoe is a low-tech but reliable tool for your landscaping needs.
Grass Shears: Do you have a detail-oriented landscaping task? Grass shears might be a slow means of clipping grass but they’re necessary where prized flowers grow too close to use a mower or string trimmer.
Bulb Planter: This simple contraption allows you to plant your bulbs cleanly and efficiently. With a simple push and twist, it creates a hole that’s the perfect depth for your bulbs. These work well for planting in loose garden soil but might struggle in packed lawn settings.
Garden Rake: Unlike a wider rake used for raking leaves, the garden rake has a steel head with short, sturdy tines. Used to prepare small areas of soil for planting seeds, plugs, or sprigs, the garden rake is an essential spring landscaping tool.
Grape (grubbing) Hoe: When you want to move a lot of earth and hack through hard ground, the wide, heavy-blade of a grape hoe is a low-tech but reliable tool for your landscaping needs.
Garden Cart or Wheelbarrow: Among the most important basic landscaping tools, a garden cart or wheelbarrow can save a landscaper from backbreaking work. Garden carts function like a wagon and have four wheels. A wheelbarrow balances on one (or sometimes two) wheels while the landscaper holds the two handles. Both lawn care tools can be used to haul anything from lawn care tools to fertilizer.
Power Tools for Lawns
While many powered lawn care tools once required gas, everything on this lawn care tools list has an electric option.
Lawn Mower: Whether it’s a push, self-propelled or zero turn mower, you’ll need something to cut your grass. If you have a half acre or less of property, a push or self-propelled mower is probably all you need, but having a zero turn can be convenient.
Blowers or Blower/Vacuums: Make fall and spring cleanup easier on your back. Blowers move leaves on sidewalks or in the grass, depending on how much power your mower has. Blower vacuum combinations have vacuum attachments that can mulch and bag leaves all in one fell swoop. Blowers are also great for cleaning up grass clippings from sidewalks and driveways after mowing.
Power Edger: Get your edging done, quickly and efficiently. You can choose from a gasoline- or an electric-powered edger. An edger has a short blade that trims grass horizontally at lawn edges, or vertically to create and maintain edges.
String Trimmer: You’re done with the mowing. It’s time to do the detail work. You can choose between gas-, electric-, or battery-powered models. All the models use a plastic line that rotates at a high speed to trim grass or weeds along lawn edges and near fixtures, such as lamp posts and fences.
If you’re looking for a better-balanced and easier-to-use model, look for one that has the power unit at the top end of a long shaft rather than resting on the head of the trimmer. An adjustable handle in the middle of the shaft also makes this basic landscaping tool more user-friendly.
Trimmers cut swaths ranging from 8 to 18 inches. Electric and battery-powered models usually have a range of 8 to 15 inches while the gas-powered units tend to have a range of 15 to 18 inches.
Do You Need a Trimmer for Lawn Upkeep?
If you are rich in lawn and short on time, a string trimmer is essential. Helping you clean up long grass and weeds along house siding, fences and landscaping features, the string trimmer is considered essential for modern lawn care.
Is it worth it to get a leaf blower?
When fall rolls around, a leaf blower can save you a lot of time. Gas or electric models blow leaves into piles for easier collection. Blowers are available in either hand-held, wheeled, or backpack styles, with the last two types easier for big jobs.
Even if you like raking leaves on the lawn, blowers can help move leaves hiding in hard-to-reach places such as under the deck or under your bushes. Many units convert to vacuums and are quite useful for cleaning up and mulching small quantities of leaves.
Treecare Landscaping
Chain Saws: An electric saw is great for cutting small tree limbs and trunks in an average-sized yard and will handle most chores, even cutting firewood.
Electric saws emit no exhaust fumes, are low maintenance, low cost, quiet, and always ready to go. While bigger jobs might require a heavier gas-powered model, electric chainsaws rank high on our list of basic landscaping tools to keep on hand.
Pole Saw: Do your high pruning without getting up on a ladder. Keep both feet on the ground and trim your trees with this pruning saw at the end of a telescoping pole.
Landscaping Remodel Lawn Care Tools
If you’re taking on big, specialized projects, you might need to rent some of these landscaping tools. While your project needs may differ based on the task at hand, this list includes a basic breakdown of the function of these tools.
Tools to Level Yard and Resod
When you’re resodding or remodeling your yard or landscaping, you’ll have to move beyond the essential lawn care tools to powered grass reseeding tools or power tillers to make transforming your green space easier. You don’t need to buy some of these lawn care tools, in fact, many can be rented at your local hardware store.
Power Sod Cutter: These gas-powered units are a quick and easy way to remove sod for construction or hardscaping projects. The tool cuts sod into strips. Look for anti-vibration handle models for comfort and precision.
Earthmover: This class of vehicles does exactly what it says it does. The category includes power shovels, bulldozers, backhoes, excavators, and more.
Lawn Roller: Even though the initial purchase of a lawn roller is inexpensive, the seasonal and bulky nature of this lawn care tool makes this a popular tool to rent. The roller is used to prepare the soil for planting in spring.
Landscaping and Grass Seeding Tools
Power Tiller: Available in many styles and capacities, from small soil mixers to large, 8-horsepower units. Tillers are ideal for alleviating compaction in preparation for a new lawn or for mixing in soil amendments, such as lime, fertilizer, and compost. Some tillers are available with power rake and aerating attachments.
Vertical Mower: Resembling a lawn mower, a vertical mower is useful for dethatching and for scarifying the soil in preparation for seeding. This mower has several vertically mounted blades set to penetrate the soil slightly. Unlike a power seeder and slit seeder, the vertical mower does not disperse seed while in use.
Power Seeder (Slit Seeder): Similar to a vertical mower, this gasoline-powered unit cuts many shallow grooves in prepared soil or turf and sows grass seed at recommended rates.
Power Aerator: Available in several styles, aerators loosen compacted soil by making many small holes in it. The best units, core aerators, have hollow coring devices that lift plugs of soil and turf from the lawn as the unit passes over it. Less-effective units create holes by pushing spikes into the lawn.
Power Dethatcher: This gas-powered tool has heavy, metal tines that whip the lawn as you pass the machine over it. Power rakes are great for removing light thatch and for prepping a lawn for overseeding.
Lawn Care Tools FAQ:
What makes yard work easier?
If you want to simplify your lawn care routine, consider investing in battery-operated lawn care tools. Power tools such as leaf blowers and string trimmers can save you time and your back sore muscles. Leaf blowers can make fall and spring clean-up a breeze. Trimmers can make trimming plants along all the edges of hardscaping and buildings simple and easy.
What tools do I need for lawn care?
The bare essentials that most people need include a mower, a leaf rake, a pair of shears for trimming and some sort of weed digger or trowel. Essential yard tools are different for most people. Consider your needs. How big is your lawn? Do you have a lot of landscaping? What are your lawn care ambitions?
Do I need a leaf blower for my lawn?
While rakes are time-tested, using a leaf blower for fall clean-up can save you a lot of time! Our blower vacuum combinations can be used to blow leaves into a pile and then switched to vacuum mode to bag and mulch leaves. This feature can grind up leaves into mulch to fertilize your lawn over the winter season.
Beyond Essential Lawn Care Tools: What’s Next in Your Lawn Care Journey?
Do you have a better idea of what tools you need to reach your lawn care goals? Hopefully you’re feeling confident in your next steps. Just remember, Toro’s helpful for whatever project comes up next. Whether you want to learn perfect lawn striping or you’d like to start a native plant garden in your yard, Toro YardCare is with you every step of the way!
